Rhegan Vanhoozer
The Rebels took on 10-2 Alabama on Friday, Sept. 22, at The Gillom Center. With the first SEC game of the season was on its home court, the Ole Miss Volleyball team knew it needed all the help it could get to start conference play on the right foot.
The Rebel crowd showed up and showed out in support of the Lady Rebs. The team’s opening conference game against the Tide brought in the biggest crowd of this season, with an attendance of 904.
The team pulled out a sweep against the Crimson Tide through three controlled sets. The direction of the game was shown early, as Alabama seemed to be scrambling against the Ole Miss offense. The Rebels dominated throughout the game, with Alabama leading only four times, each by only one point.
The Ole Miss defense was almost impenetrable as well, holding Alabama to a season low hitting percentage. Cammy Neisen, a sophomore defensive specialist, showed exactly why she leads the SEC in digs after tallying 13 digs on Friday night.
With Sasha Ratliff out, Vivian Miller stepped up. Miller had the best game of her career, leading the team with 13 kills. Performances like this, in the absence of lineup regulars, are going to be the separator for Ole Miss down the road.
The sweep made for Ole Miss’s fifth straight win over Alabama.
On Sunday, the Rebels traveled to Auburn to face the No. 24 Tigers. Unlike the matchup against Alabama, Ole Miss struggled with Auburn’s intensity. There are no other words to describe this game besides a true battle.
Neville Arena was having a block party. On both sides of the net, the teams were putting up the defense to stay in the game.
Ole Miss started off strong, taking the first set. With a tie at 13 points, the Rebels went on a scoring run to earn the 25-21 victory.
Set two started with Auburn coming out the of the gates swinging. Both teams went back and forth holding the reins, but Auburn pulled out the win largely due to Akasha Anderson. Anderson totaled 20 kills on the day, and she proved to be a big problem for the Rebels.
The third set was disastrous for the visiting Rebels. After being tied at six points, Auburn took over the game and outscored Ole Miss by 15 points. Unrelenting blocks by the Tigers halted the Rebels momentum and quickly gave Auburn the 2-1 set advantage.
The Rebels, however, did not going down easy. Set four was a thriller, with Auburn looking to put the game away and Ole Miss looking to stay in it.
The upper hand went back and forth for both teams. The Rebels led by six points in the middle of the set, but the Tigers were never out of the race. The set led to extra points as both teams were tied at 25 by the end.
On what would have been a set point for Ole Miss, a challenge made by Auburns head coach reversed the advantage in the Tigers’ favor. This one mistake led to the 27-25 win for Auburn.
Ole Miss showed dominance against the Tide and resilience despite the defeat against the ranked Tigers. Both of these games will teach the Rebels a lot about themselves as a unit and will prove to be important contests in the future.
After the first week of SEC play, the Rebels come out with a 1-1 conference record. Next week, conference play continues at home versus South Carolina. The game will air Sept. 29 on SEC Network.
